News & Commentary

OKLAHOMA CITY— The ACLU of Oklahoma is calling today upon the Oklahoma Legislature to clearly and unequivocally declare meaningful criminal justice reform a policy priority this legislative session. This type of declaration would send a strong message about the Legislature’s dedication to improving public safety while restoring the lives of their fellow Oklahomans.Oklahoma, now officially the world’s largest per capita incarcerator, is in desperate need of immediate reform. Speaker McCall and other members of the legislature have indicated early support this session for criminal justice reform, but have so far advanced only minor legislation aimed at reform while also advancing legislation that would create new felonies for certain offenses.On Tuesday, the House considered two pieces of legislation from the Governor’s Task Force for Criminal Justice Reform. Despite repeated assurances that reforms would be a central focus of this legislative session, only one of the considered bills was advanced. Today, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would make theft of firearms a felony. “This week’s actions call into question whether Speaker McCall and his colleagues are actually interested in criminal justice reform, or if they prefer to pay lip service to the voters while allowing a cruel and costly system to remain intact,” said Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. “Big words and standing ovations without action will never move us beyond the abysmal status quo. If Speaker McCall is indeed serious about criminal justice reform, he should move beyond vague gestures of support and tell the people of Oklahoma clearly and plainly which proposals will enjoy the full the support of his office.” The ACLU of Oklahoma supports this session several measures aimed at reducing the number of people incarcerated in prisons and jails, and the number of people with felonies on their records. In addition to support for the Governor’s Task Force, the ACLU is hopeful that more legislation aimed at addressing mass incarceration will receive serious consideration and ultimately become law this session. “If the legislature is ready to reduce our over-reliance on incarceration, as so many members have claimed, they must immediately halt their absurd attempts to further pack our prisons and declare support for reforms that could actually address the problem,” said Allie Shinn, Director of External Affairs for the ACLU of Oklahoma. “There is promising legislation on a number of fronts, such as Senator Roger Thompson's SB 969, which would retroactively apply the reforms of SQ 780. Senator Thompson has emerged as a true and bold leader on this issue. We encourage all those truly interested in reform to follow his lead.”

Tondalao Hall is a 33-year-old woman of color and mother of three from Oklahoma City. She is currently serving her 13th year of a 30-year prison sentence for “failure to protect” her children from her abuser.

On December 12, Oklahoma mother of three, Tondalao Hall, with her ACLU attorneys, will take a crucial step in the long and tedious process to challenge her excessive sentence and to free her from Mabel Bassett Correctional Center.

Imagine you’ve lived in the same home for your entire adult life, when suddenly, the government threatens your very existence, solely because state legislators cannot agree on a budget.

On October 31, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services notified the over 20,000 recipients of Advantage and In-Home Supports Waivers for Adults that their benefits would be terminated on December 1, 2017. Regardless of potential action from the Governor’s office today...

OKLAHOMA CITY–The City Council of Oklahoma City approved this morning an amendment to the City’s previously adopted anti-panhandling ordinance, restricting the ability of citizens to sit, stand, or stay on public medians. The amendment changes which medians are affected by the ordinance but continues to restrict access to large numbers of public medians in Oklahoma City. In response, the ACLU of Oklahoma released the following statement:

TAHLEQUAH, OK– The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma filed suit today against the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program (D.A.R.P., Inc. or D.A.R.P.) for a number of egregious abuses, including human trafficking and labor violations. The suit, filed on behalf of past participants at the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program facilities in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and Decatur, Arkansas, alleges the organization has been running an unpaid labor camp disguised as a rehabilitation center for the last decade.

Backward-thinking Oklahoma sheriffs, prosecutors and legislators are bringing in outside help in their bid to undermine criminal justice reform overwhelmingly supported by Oklahoma voters and a large, diverse, nonpartisan coalition of Oklahomans that continues to grow.

Monuments are being removed across the nation. These confederate monuments, symbols, and representatives started rooting up in the Jim Crow era as a threat to Black Americans and for the expansion of white supremacy ideology and its vestiges of white supremacy and nationalism.